


The Ring

by wolfmanwrites



Series: Skyrim Stories [1]
Category: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: Based around ill met by moonlight, Gen, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-18
Updated: 2018-07-18
Packaged: 2019-06-12 10:09:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15337602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wolfmanwrites/pseuds/wolfmanwrites
Summary: The figure stands before you, a guilt ridden monster, but you know this fate and perhaps this is why you hold out your hand for the ring.





	The Ring

The figure stands before you, a guilt ridden monster, but you know this fate and perhaps this is why you hold out your hand for the ring. It’s on your finger before your have a chance to register it, but it burns hot as your gut clenches and you watch man become beast. You exit the barracks in a daze, unsure of what trouble you’ve just gotten yourself into, fist unwilling to unclench. You start east, hoping Sinding’s tracking as been accurate. 

The stag will make a beautiful kill you think, even as your pulse quickens and after months of its absence there’s the feeling of something trying to claw its way out of you. The fletching brushes past your lips and as the arrow slices through the hide you can feel the memory of precisely how much pressure before fangs plunge into flesh and the flood of hot iron hits. The constricting heat of the ring calls you back to the present and you steel yourself before going to the cooling stag. There is a single patch of red, vibrant against his snowy coat. Kneeling with the arrow in your grasp, ready to pull it free, the voice that haunted your beast blood nightmares sounds out above you. 

Whether your speed is born from a hope to spare Sinding from this curse or a desperate need to rid yourself of the Daedric ring you find yourself looking into the maw of the grotto before the faint crescent forms of Masser and Secunda have fully risen. There’s a shift in the air and the feeling that you’re taking a step into a different realm as you follow the cave in. The grotto is bathed in blood from the fallen hunters and the horrible crimson light from Secunda’s cursed form hanging heavy and full in the sky. The scent could drive you mad but the ring now searing its form into your skin keeps you focused on the task at hand. 

Before exiting the grotto you glisten in the moonlight, the blood of the hunters growing sticky on your armor. Passing through that same almost tangible field the only mark left upon you is the ring, now clean of blood under the faint light of the moons. Even in your efforts to thwart his will the Prince praises you. When the ring slips off and lands softly on the soil relief brings tears to your eyes, the temptation of the beast blood already fading. You bask for a moment in your freedom before gently lifting the ring with the tip of an arrow, unwilling to let it touch your skin a second time. 

Sinding is surprised to see you back so quickly but you explain that there are ways around the curse as you pass over the now uncursed ring. There are tales of cures beyond the few you know of, you explain your own history, the unexpected side effects of your efforts with the Dawnguard. As he slips the ring on you tell him you would like to help him, to release him from Hircine’s grasp even as his body convulses and eyes glow with something unnatural even for the beast form. As you draw your weapon he is already upon you.

You could swear you hear laughter from your nightmares when you wake. The sensation of dried blood on your skin is far too familiar and the ground is cold against your naked body. It's faint, satiated, but you can feel the call of the beast blood as you stare at the ring resting in your bloodied palm.


End file.
